Cyber Security

Cyber Security Success – Joint Polar Satellite System

GAMA-1’s Information Security Solutions Engineer (ISSE)
was tasked to protect the Government Resource for Algorithm
Verification, Independent Testing, and Evaluation (GRAVITE) system under the
Tri-Agency National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System
(NPOESS) Joint Polar Satelitte System (JPSS). GAMA-1 successfully
provides a reliable and secure technical infrastructure for the conduct of the
NPOESS Preparatory Program (NPP) Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Program;
as well as a mechanism for providing support to the NASA and NPOESS prime
contractor.

As such, NASA successfully launched the first
Earth-observing satellite to measure both global climate changes and key
weather variables on October 27, 2011. The National Polar-orbiting Operational
Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) is the first mission
designed to collect critical data to improve weather forecasts in the
short-term and increase our understanding of long-term climate change.

GAMA-1 provided the GRAVITE systems Certification &
Accreditation (C&A) support throughout the Systems Development Life
Cycle (SDLC). The Moderate to HIGH level C&A met 99%
compliance. GAMA-1 provides continuous monitoring of the GRAVITE system.

GAMA-1 was recognized by the NOAA Deputy Chief Information
Officer (CIO), Zachary Goldstein, as the “IT security expert for NESDIS”. Based
on a direct recommendation from the NOAA DCIO, GAMA-1’s President, Gus Gamarra
was tasked to serve as the security lead in Department of Commerce’s SmartSpot
check. The SmartSpot check is a quality control check program used to
validate quality in certification and accredited packages (C&A).